That the country is not the foundation of the community
Now brotherhood has been so cut to shreds
That in the stead of the community
The Country has been given pride of place
In men’s allegiance and constructive work;
The Country is the darling of their hearts,
And wide humanity is whittled down
Into dismembered tribes. Men thought to find
Paradise in that miserable abode
Of ruin where they made the peoples dwell.
This tree has banished heaven from the world
And borne for fruit the bitterness of war;
Humanity is but a legend, man
Become a stranger to his fellow‐man.
The spirit has departed from the flesh,
Only the seven disjointed limbs remain;
Vanished is humankind, there but abide
The disunited nations. Politics
Dethroned religion, this tree first struck root
Within a Western garden, and the tale
Of Christianity was all rolled up,
The radiance of the Church’s lantern dimmed;
Pope powerless and baffled, from his hand
The counters scattered; Jesus’ followers
Spurning the Church; debased the coinage
Of the True Cross’s Law. When atheism
Fist rent religion’s garment, there arrived
That Satan’s messenger, the Florentine
Who worshipped falsehood, whose collyrium
Shattered the sight of men. He wrote a scroll
For Princes, and so scattered in our clay
The seed of conflict; his fell genius
Decamped to darkness, and his sword like pen
Struck Truth asunder. Carving images
Like Azar was his trade; his fertile mind
Conceived a new design; his novel faith
Proclaimed the State the only worship;
His thoughts the ignoble turned to praiseworthy.
So, when the feet of this adorable
He kissed, the touchstone that he introduced
To test the truth was Gain. His doctrine caused
Falsehood to flourish; plotting stratagems
Became an art. A sad and sorry end
Attended the regime which he devised,
That caltrop which he scattered on the road
Of advancing days. Dark night he wrapped
About the peoples’ eyes; deception called,
In his vocabulary, expediency.
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